The Tsar's Colonels: Professionalism, Strategy, and Subversion in Late Imperial RussiaIn this impressive study, David Rich demonstrates how the modernization of Russia's general staff during the second half of the nineteenth century reshaped its intellectual and strategic outlook and equipped the staff to play a strong, and at times dominant, role in shaping Russian foreign policy. Rich weaves together several levels of narrative to show how the increasingly sophisticated, scientific, and positivistic work attitudes and habits of the general staff acculturated younger officers, redefining their relationship with, and responsibilities to, the state. In time, this new generation of officers projected their characteristic notions onto the state and onto autocracy itself; professional concern for the security of the state eclipsed traditional unquestioning loyalty to the regime. Rich goes on to show how divergence between diplomatic and military aims among those responsible for making strategy cost the state dearly in terms of economic stability and international standing. The author supports his findings with original research in Russian foreign policy and military archives and wide reading in published sources. The Tsar's Colonels contributes to a number of debates in Russian military and social history and offers new insights on the structural roots of the Great War, and on the theoretical problems of modernization and professionalization. |
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The Tsar's Colonels: Professionalism, Strategy, and Subversion in Late ... David Alan Rich No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
activities alliance army's Austria AVPR Balkan battalions Bayonets before Bullets Bismarck Caucasus cavalry central chap chief of Main chief of staff colonels command corps Crimean Crimean War crisis culture decades defensive deployment diplomatic dynastic East Prussia empire empire's European field forces French frontier Fuller General-Adjutant General'nogo shtaba German Germany's Gorchakov Ibid imperial Imperial Russia interests Ivangorod Kiev Kuropatkin Livadia Main Staff ment mili military district staffs military statistics Miliutin minister ministry's mobiliza mobilization committee mobilization plans Mobilization Schedule modern Moltke Moscow Nicholas Nikolai Obruchev operations organization Petersburg planners Poland political preparation problem professional rail railroad rationalization regiments RGVIA Rossii Russia's strategic Russian army Russian general staff Russian military Russo-Turkish War Sbornik scientific staff academy staff officers Strategy and Power technical tion transportation tsar tsar's University Press Vannovskii Vilna voennogo Voennyi voina voiny Vospominaniia war minister Warsaw western Zaionchkovskii
References to this book
Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union Francine Hirsch No preview available - 2005 |
Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union Francine Hirsch No preview available - 2005 |